What a difference a year makes. Last year, the varsity football Oakdale Mustangs suffered a loss to Vanden High School in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division 3 Championship game. Fast forward one year, and it was Oakdale getting revenge on the Vikings with a 45-13 victory in the semifinal round. The lopsided win came on Friday night, Nov. 21 at The Corral, Oakdale punching its return ticket to the Section title contest, set for Nov. 28.
The Mustangs used all phases of the game; offense, defense and special teams, to eliminate the Vikings.
Vanden began the night on a promising note, as they stopped Wes Burford on a fourth-and-four from the Vikings 38 for a turnover on downs with seven minutes left to play in the opening quarter. The Vikings capitalized on the turnover and Josiah Chavez scored on a 42-yard rushing touchdown to give the visitors a 7-0 lead with 5:26 left in the quarter. Their lead would last for just over one minute. Burford scored his first of three touchdowns when he went in on a five-yard run with 4:09 left in the first and the Mustangs added a successful two-point conversion to take an 8-7 advantage.
It was a huge second quarter for the home team, and it was set up by junior Peyton Wallace. With 7:33 remaining in the half, Wallace intercepted Xavier Zambrano and returned it to the Vanden 30-yard line. Burford and the offense took advantage of the turnover as Burford scored from four yards out and the Mustangs went up 16-7 with 4:11 left in the half. Zambrano tested Wallace on the ensuing possession and Wallace made him pay as he picked off the Viking quarterback again at the Vanden 36 with 3:25 left in the half. Anthony Navarro cashed in on the turnover and scored a 30-yard rushing touchdown to extend the advantage to 24-7 with 3:08 left in the half. With less than one minute remaining in the half, Wallace made his third interception of the quarter at their own 43-yard line. Oakdale used the last minute of the first half to make a statement as quarterback Grant Gardner connected with Luke Sousa on a 14-yard touchdown with 14 seconds left to play in the half as Oakdale went into the locker room up 32-7.
“Tonight was special for not just me, but for our team,” said Wallace. “As the night went on my confidence grew and I just made my reads and made an impact.”
The only score of the third quarter came on a Burford four-yard rushing touchdown with 1:47 left in the quarter to make it a 38-7 lead. Burford finished the night with 151 yards on the ground.
Vanden scored their final points of the season when Kimani Dokes went in on a three-yard rushing touchdown with 6:48 left to play in the game. Oakdale scored the final points of the evening on a 55-yard rushing touchdown by Chase Lopez with 5:56 left in the game, putting the home team up 45-13.
“We had a great week of practice, it made a big difference from our performance from last week,” said Mustangs head coach Garrett Martin.
With the win, number two seed Oakdale advances to the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division 3 Championship. They will face top seed Woodcreek on Friday afternoon, Nov 28 at 4 p.m.
Woodcreek defeated Destiny Christian Academy 42-14 in the first round and then followed up with a 42-6 victory over Rio Americano in the Nov. 21 semifinal round. The title game will be held at Sacramento City College.
“I do not want this to sound cocky but that is the expectation that we as a program hold. It is the standard and has been since Mark Malone and Trent Merzon were here,” Martin said of going deep into the postseason. “The standard and expectation that we have for our program is reach and win the Section.”
